MINISTRY NOTES

Week of September 20, 2009

Hi Everyone,

God blessed me Monday morning. A man who calls me his Pastor and came to services at Jesus Center occasionally, called me from several states away. He and his family had moved and were wishing they were back in Tulsa. Their kids are in school there and I asked him where he took his family to Church on Sunday. His excuse didn't seem good, that "there were no Churches near". I asked him his zip code and with in a few minutes I read off a list of 8 Churches in his zip code from the computer. He picked a couple of flavors and I gave him three Church's names with phone numbers and addresses. Also I was able to remind him that God and Jesus want us to tithe (Malachi 3:6-10; Matthew 23:23). He needs work so it was easy to say when you get $100 give $10 to the Church you are going to and you are still $90 ahead. This is a way that God blesses people and when I usually mention it; some think I just want their money. God wants you give to the Church you are worshipping Him in. It is awesome when God can help me pastor someone, even across the country.

A couple of weeks ago I went through three day of secular training on helping individuals (similar to the material we have in our Marriage Workshop for couples). They taught a concept about doing things by sliding into them, rather than making rational decisions. They called it "sliding vs. deciding". It is good to make solid decisions rather than sliding by relying on emotions and impulses. But some decisions turn out to be bad decisions. How do you make good decisions? How about getting God involved in your decisions? Stay tune for more on this subject in next week's message.

Message:

God is Jealous

Another facet of God's nature is He says He is jealous1. God doesn't want us to put anything ahead of Him. When it comes to other god's, God doesn't want us to "even mention their names"2. There is only one true God. How is He best defined? He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob3, and He is the father of Jesus Christ4 or Jesus is His son5.

Many will say that they don't know about any false gods and yet there is a well-known religion in the world that worships a false god. Some media even promote them as being the fastest growing religion in the world, often using fear and intimidation to enable that growth. They claim to follow the Old Testament and yet they have altered parts and changed people's names to fit their religion, which is a way of lying. Altering scriptures is something that neither Jews nor most Christians would dare to do. This evil religion claims to honor Jesus as a prophet and yet in saying that they are calling Jesus a liar, since He says He is the "…Son of God…"5. They seem to be following Satan as some of them want to kill all Jews and Christians. Apparently, their idea of heaven involves an opportunity indulge in pedophilia and to commit sins they couldn't do on earth (this is a dead give away as to their source and just proves Satan is dumb). They were founded by a man named Mohammad in the 7th century. They like to refer to themselves as Islam, which can mean "peace" or "surrender oneself to god". Also they refer to themselves as Muslim, which in another language means "one who submits to god". The safest name to call their evil religion, without referring to their god, is the name Mohammadanism.

What or who else do people put ahead of God? With some it is money and their material possessions. Jesus is very strong that you cannot worship both God and money6. And yet there are Christian groups that promote our basic greed and desire for material prosperity. Although God does like to bless us financially7, He does not want us to put these material desires ahead of Him. Churches that promote our desire for money to get followers are no better than religions in the old days that encouraged sexual gratification to gain followers8.

Others put their families and themselves ahead of God. Jesus makes it very clear that we should never put family members or our selves ahead of God9. Remember that God doesn't want us to place anything ahead of Him1.

"Hey God, we hope You are having a good day. Help us to be aware of anything in our lives that we need to subordinate and to be sure that You are first in our lives. Help us to have a good day by putting You first in our lives and doing only what You want us to do. Thank You for this in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Exodus 20:5

2. Exodus 23:13 (TEV)

3. Mark 12:26

4. Matthew 10:32

5. John 10:36

6. Luke 16:13

7. Malachi 3:10; Luke 6:38

8. 1 Kings 1:24; Hosea 4:4; Mica 1:7

9. Luke 14:26; 9:23; John 14:21